Upgraded play area officially reopened
Gawsworth residents celebrated the opening of their upgraded play area on Sunday 18th May.
Gawsworth Park, off Church Lane in the centre of Gawsworth village, is owned and managed by Gawsworth Parish Council, which last year set out to provide an upgraded facility for the children of the parish.
Parish Council Chair, Cllr Penny Shepherd, cut the ribbon to officially reopen the play area at a special community gathering which included cake from Gawsworth Hub and a visit from the Mr Whippy ice cream van.
The play area had last been upgraded in 2005, and after nearly 20 years the equipment was showing its age, and the popular zip-wire had been condemned. The Parish Council’s Park and Woodland working group was tasked with investigating options for a revamp.
The working group, comprising councillors Andrea Kinsey, Adam Hardy and Emma Clarke and parish clerk Adam Keppel-Green, developed a specification based on feedback from the community and started getting some preliminary ideas on costs from a national playground supplier.
The Parish Council initially pledged up to £37,000 to the project, £17,000 from its park reserve and £20,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy. The council secured a grant of £26,000 from the John Upton Charity, giving an initial budget of £63,000.
“At the start we really didn’t’ know what budget we would have available, so developed proposals at a range of price points and explored a number of grant funding opportunities” said council clerk, Adam Keppel-Green.
A tendering process was undertaken in summer 2024, inviting a range of companies to submit proposals at different price points. The working group whittled the proposals down to two and undertook consultation with the community in the early Autumn.
The council was successful in a number of grant applications, securing two major grants of £30,000 from Tarmac Landifll Communities Fund and £20,000 from the National Lottery Awards for All. £800 was raised through a crowdfunding campaign with local residents, and the council also secured £3,000 from the Bruce Wake Trust, £1,000 from Tesco and £500 from Cheshire Community Action.
The refurbishment involved removing nearly all the old equipment, with just the swing frames and toddler springers being retained. In the toddler section, a new interactive multi-play unit has been installed alongside some imaginative play panels.
The junior section received a new zip-wire and large multi-play unit, featuring a range of play features. A new, accessible, roundabout was installed alongside a trampoline panel, see-saw and spinner. New swing seats were also installed to widen accessibility.
“We were keen to incorporate a number of accessible play items in the upgrade, to ensure all children in the community can enjoy the play area” Adam added.
Chair of the Parish Council, Cllr Penny Shepherd, spoke of her delight at seeing the new facility in use.
“It was wonderful to open the new play area for the community and see how much children were enjoying the equipment”
“The working group did an excellent job selecting some really interactive and feature rich play equipment, and we hope all children enjoy it over the summer”
Penny gave thanks to her grant funders who made the project possible. “As small council, we could not have delivered such a fantastic upgrade without the support of these grant bodies, so we are extremely grateful for their generosity and support.”
Upgrading the play area was a key objective of the parish council’s Park Management Plan, adopted in 2020 and recently reviewed. The Parish Council is now working to upgrade the football pitch and basketball area and relocate picnic tables closer to the play area.
Gawsworth Park features a play area for children 2-10, tennis court, community orchard, community garden, football field, basketball shooting area, table tennis and picnic space. It is located behind the Village Hall in Gawsworth and open to all visitors.